There is no title for this week

Family. I am so happy for finally getting to write you. We were supposed to write you ASAP but the whole city along with the other cities near us are in complete brown out. I was so anxious ever since Thursday that you didn't know that I wasn't floating around somewhere facedown.. As in, I had this huge pit in my stomach ever since then. Especially because I thought you weren't getting a lot of sleep, mom. I found out that they had contacted you this morning at like 9 oclock and I just cried because I was so relieved. Right now we were lucky enough to find the one internet cafe in the whole town with a generator and internet.

The thing is, I was never in any danger at all. We were ordered to stay in our apartment but we only had strong winds and a little rain. We were very blessed in Allen. But it is so hard to think about all the cute kids and wonderful people that I met the week I was in Tacloban. Also, my very best friend from the MTC was literally assigned 15 minutes away from Tacloban. I have been worrying about him and praying for him and his family all week. I just keep thinking about how you all got a phone call and how maybe his parents haven't because he isn't yet accounted for.. it makes my heart sick. To be honest, all of this makes my heart sick. There were so many poor little kids that came up to me while I was there asking for money because they needed food. I am sure that they had no shelter at all. We are about 8-10 hours away from Tacloban so it's hard to imagine, but I remember being in America how impersonal it was to hear about the storms, even though you felt sympathy. Now it is definitely personal. It is hard to write how I feel right now. Another typhoon is coming and if it were to hit Allen I would be so devastated. 

I want to share one happy story at least from before we knew about all of these terrible things. We had a baptism for this sweet little girl, Shaina. She is 9-turning 10 tomorrow, and was born premature so she is not quite right in the head. She is really adorable though. We finished a lesson with her family and asked if anyone had any questions, so she turned to S. Woodruff and asked, "why is your nose so big?" Then she told us she wanted to be baptised and she knew how to pray. So we set up her baptism. It was the day after the typhoon so we hadn't had the opportunity to plan  for it. So we got to the church, and there were no elders and no bishop. Also no water for the font in the church. So we went to find the elders then they called us (we randomly had phone service in a small patch of the road) and they were coming so we asked if they had buckets to get water from the bumba (well) They had only one so we went to get ours. There we decided to baptise her (and them, the elders had two baptisms also) in the ocean, so we went from there to find the bishop. We walked to his house, then his young son said he thought that he had gone to the church. On the way to the church, he passed us on his motor in a jersey back to his house. We were on a motor, so we went back to the church, then to his house again to get him. Thankfully he was going to the church as soon as we arrived, and we all went to the baptism. S. Woodruff and I had to give the talks, and I had to lead the music too, so it was not very well put together. But as we went out to the dagat(ocean) and I saw our Heavenly Father's little child get ready to enter the waters of baptism, I felt such peace. It felt like the anxiety before was making this baptism even more beautiful. I know that Heavenly Father is proud of little Shaina for her decision. 

We are going to Manila probably tomorrow for I don't know how long. Hopefully I will be able to email soon and let you know what is happening. Thank you for your emails and your prayers and I am sorry if you worried too much. I love you all so much. 

Sister Sprouse